Improper UGQ Winter Dream Pitch?

[cougarmeat]

WalksIn2Trees - are you saying you’ve never heard of a tarp that has a catenary cut ridge line. I believe the WarBonnet SuperFly has a catenary cut ridge line. If you look at this video: https://youtu.be/UHuUmNOwBAw at time 5:40, you can see the ends curving up.

if you are allowing that some tarps do have a catenary cut ridge line, what direction should it curve?

I do understand the purpose of a catenary cut, but I don’t think you can change a cut fabric curve into a straight line just by pulling on it.

[WalksIn2Trees]

no, I'm saying the purpose and goal of a catenary cut ridge-line isn't to give you a CURVED ridge-line when setup properly. It's only supposed to help tension the middle of the panels.

a cat-cut ridge-line without a CRL is still going to have some curve to it anyway, because it's self supported from the loops, and gravity is as gravity does, but you should always be going for as level a ridge-line as possible.

it should also be noted that going for "drum-tight" will probably prematurely kill your tarp, but that's a different issue.

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[cougarmeat]

A fire engine is supposed to be red, but that’s not it’s purpose. A catenary cut is suppose to curve. On a ridge line, it curves up - but that’s not it’s purpose. Moving on ….

[cmoulder]

A tarp ridge line is going to curve whether or not it has a cat cut.

DCF doesn't stretch much at all but it still has a curve in the ridge line. Cat cut sides and ends definitely help with a taut pitch.

[WalksIn2Trees]

right, gravity, but if using a CRL that runs under, it needs to be as level as possible, though a drip line or other water break can help mitigate water running down the CRL. even with that though, it's still possible to get enough rain to overpower the water break (also gravity) as videos from HF notables have shown.. (Derek Hansen or Shug maybe? I forget, but I'm pretty sure it was Derek)

but even without a CRL running under, water can still run down the underside of the tarp from the ridge-line loops if the slope is steep enough, so it's good to be in the habit of making sure your ridge-line is as level as possible. it can mean the difference when there's a small leak in your ridge-line seam, because water can drop straight down rather than running down slope. a small leak over the end of your hammock is no big deal, unless the water is running down to the lowest point to drip directly over your quilt. which is exactly what was happening to me a few weeks ago before I switched tarps, but for me it was dripping onto my top cover and dampening my quilts through capillary action. in any case you might not notice it's even happening for hours by which time your quilts are soaked.

most people don't hammock camp full-time like I do, so whatever the odds are of things happening, I'm probably going to see a much higher frequency of occurrences than most people. you could say I have an accelerated learning curve.

in the summer when most people are camping having their gear get wet is not the end of the world. but in the shoulder seasons (which it still is in some places) where the morning can be t-shirt weather and snowing by evening, a mistake like that can kill you. especially if you're a minimalist pushing the extremes of their equipment.

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[cmoulder]

I camp in all seasons and weather and have never had these issues that others seem to experience.

But I've never run a RL under a tarp, and my tarp ridge line does not leak. I also pitch the tarp right down to the hammock SRL for maximum weather protection and wind blocking, and the tarp RL pretty much follows the hammock SRL so it is always around 8" higher at the foot than the head, and I've had no dripping problems at all with no effort at making water breaks for either tarp RL or suspension.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong but so far my ignorance is serving me well.

[WalksIn2Trees]

well, it worked a lot of times for me, right up until it didn't. the first time I was pretty green, but had been setting up the way I was for a while. at the time I was using the blue backpackers tarp from the camping section at Walmart, hung corner to corner which was only just enough coverage for the hammock I also had gotten there.

I had a CRL going under, but I was trying to do this one-rope suspension thing. This incident also put an end to that experiment anyway there was this big storm, and we got a full two weeks of rain, and it was heavy rain, so probably a remnants of a hurricane coming up the eastern coast.

the first night, I noticed a drip over my belly, but of course couldn't see much, in the morning, I noticed it dripping from the ridge-line, but I assumed it's a pinhole in the tarp, so I'm watching the tarp, trying to see it. I got out a few times to check for tree branches, any kind of sign of a hole. Nothing. now remember this is a tiny tarp, so I basically only had this tiny little triangle of coverage beside the hammock to hunch under to get dressed or put on a coat or anything. so there was no chance to drying anyting, and now even my sleeping bag was soaked, though it was warm while I was in it.

I had kind of given up on finding the source so it wasn't until the third day as I'm laying there that I noticed that the drip was right where my light was hanging from and had this AH-HA! moment and took the light off, which slowed the drip down considerably. It didn't fix it because of that one rope suspension, so I went out again and reconfigured that to get me through the storm.

that lesson has served me well, but it's always when you switch things up that you get "surprises", because you think you've got it all figured out...

liked I said, I'm doing this full time. So my tarp is always up, always exposed. It started failing from age, and leaking so I had to switch to my other tarp. If you only go out a few times a year, it would take years to put the same wear on a tarp, that mine gets in one year.



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